


There Will Be Consequences

by CoreyWW



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bitterness, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Flirting, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Drama, Psychological Trauma, Regret, Sacrifice, Sacrifice Chloe Ending, Sad, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 06:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13897833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoreyWW/pseuds/CoreyWW
Summary: Five years after the events of Life is Strange, Max's life is not exactly idyllic ...





	There Will Be Consequences

“Okay, where to now?” Chloe said as they got into the truck. She had a mischievous smile on her face. Max couldn’t help but smile back.

“Um ... I dunno,” Max said with a laugh.

Chloe rolled her eyes, then put her hand on Max’s leg. Max felt her heart flutter.

“Come on, don’t be like that! I’ve picked the last ten places!” Chloe said.

“Give me a second,” Max giggled. “I’m still groggy. I couldn’t sleep at all with you tossing and turning.”

“I don’t toss and turn.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Why didn’t you just sleep in the chair in our hotel room?”

Max bit her lip.

“Aha, I know why.” Chloe gestured down to herself. “Max just couldn’t resist this ass.”

Max felt her cheeks get hot as she laughed.

“You’re such an asshole,” Max said.

“And?” Chloe chuckled. “Come on, let’s pick a new place to go. I can’t just drag you around everywhere for the rest of our lives... I mean, I _can_ , but ...”

Max chuckled.

“Um ... I dunno ... I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon.”

“Ha! Gotta take a photo of it, huh?”

“Well ...”

“Ha! Fucking called it. That’s cool. You could take a photo of me falling in then use your powers to undo that shit”

Max glared. Chloe turned to her and did a double take.

“Hey, _joking_!” Chloe insisted. “I was joking with you!”

“Not funny,” Max said, shaking her head. “I don’t use my powers anymore ... and anyway I don’t want to ...”

Max felt a lump in her throat.

“I don’t want to think of losing you again ...” she said.

Chloe’s smile faded. She rubbed Max’s leg.

“Hey ... Max, look ...” she said, gently. “Sorry for joking like that. I was being stupid. Just ... when I say stuff like that, I want you to remember one thing.”

“What’s that?”

Chloe brushed her bangs to the side and smiled.

“Remember that I--”

A gunshot rang out. Before Max could realize what was happening, a splatter of red burst from Chloe’s abdomen. Max felt some splash onto her.

For a moment, Max thought she must be seeing things, that couldn’t have happened. This couldn’t be real. She felt herself begin to shake.

“CHLOE!” Max said, still reeling. “CHLOE!”

She shook Chloe, but her eyes were rolled back and blood was pooling onto the seat. The salty smell in the air assaulted Max’s nose.

“No ... no no _no_!” Max said. She looked everywhere, looking for where the shot came from. She couldn’t see anything.

She knew she shouldn’t rewind, that it would only cause more problems, but in that moment she didn’t care. She focused ... but nothing happened.

She opened her eyes and Chloe was still there, dead. Her skin was already getting paler.

Max wanted to vomit.

“No ... no please,” Max shouted. “Don’t leave me again!”

* * *

Max bolted upright in bed.

“ _Don’t leave me again_!” she shouted.

Max looked around, reality coming into focus. She was in her apartment. She wasn’t on the road with Chloe.

How could she, when Chloe had been dead five years? After they both stopped the storm ... after that last rewind ...

The door of Max’s room opened and her roommate stepped in.

“Max, what’s wrong?” Kate Marsh said, in a panic. Her blond hair was messy and her eyes were wide in panic.

“I ... I ...” Max tried to say she was fine, but she became conscious of the tears in her eyes. She hated it; she always cried when she had dreams like this. Worse, they were becoming more frequent.

Kate frowned.

“Oh no ...” Without another thought, she sat on the bed and embraced Max. Max couldn’t even summon the energy to push her away. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay, Max ...”

“She died and I didn’t do anything ...” Max mumbled as tears trickled down her cheek.

“It’s okay, Max, it’s not your fault ...” Kate patted Max’s back. “It’s not your fault.”

Max shook her head, but couldn’t say anything else. Kate knew that Max was in the bathroom when Chloe got shot (everyone knew that, after all), but she knew nothing else. Nothing about her powers, everything with Chloe before that ...

Chloe was the only one aside from Max who knew everything. But Chloe was gone. And Max was still here.

After what felt like hours, Max sat up, breaking from Kate’s embrace.

“Kate ...” Max said, her voice cracked. “Could you ... could you do me a favor and get one of my pills from the medicine cabinet, please?”

Kate nodded slowly.

“Yeah, of course ...” Kate said.

She left and returned a moment later with a single white pill and a glass of water. Max took the pill and gulped the water down.

“You gonna be okay going back to sleep?” Kate said.

Max nodded.

“Yeah,” she lied. “Sure.”

“Okay. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Kate left the room, giving another glance back at she did. Max felt guilty for making her worry so much.

Max settled back down on the pillow. In her heart she knew even after the pill kicked in, she wouldn’t get another moment of sleep till morning.

She thought of the dream, how up until it went horribly wrong that it was the happiest she’d felt in a long time. She wished Chloe was there right now ...

And as much as Max hated to admit it, she thought something she’d felt countless times before. Something that made Max hate herself, because she knew on some level she meant it ...

_I wish I had saved her instead of everyone else,_ Max thought.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm envisioning this as essentially being "Max's Crappy Future Life: The Fic" but that's not as good of a title.
> 
> This first chapter works good as a standalone, but I was thinking of doing more if people ended up enjoying it since I had a lot of fun thinking of stuff for this future (if I do a chapter two, it'll probably show a little of Max's "career" at the moment).
> 
> So yeah, this is my first Life is Strange fic so let me know what you guys think in the comments. Thanks for reading!


End file.
